Cooking oven
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ovens rely solely on temperature and time for cooking food, lacking a method to replicate the precise cooking conditions of a perfectly cooked item for similar food items, leading to inconsistent results.
Innovation Solution
The oven stores a history of instant temperature data during a perfect cook and adjusts cooking settings in real-time for subsequent similar items by comparing current temperatures to stored averages, allowing dynamic adjustments to the cook cycle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional ovens use only temperature feedback mechanism to maintain set temperature, then the oven temperature can be maintained relatively constant, but the cooking results are inconsistent for similar food items
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by storing the complete temperature history and cooking conditions from a reference perfect cook before actually cooking the food item. This stored temperature profile serves as a template that guides the cooking process, allowing the system to proactively adjust heating to replicate the successful reference cook rather than merely reacting to temperature deviations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously comparing the actual temperature profile during cooking against the stored reference temperature history. When deviations are detected, the system adjusts the heating element to correct the deviation, ensuring the actual cooking process follows the reference profile. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures consistent replication of the perfect cook conditions.
2Measurement precision
If the oven stores complete temperature history data, then the cooking conditions can be precisely replicated, but the memory requirements and data processing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential temperature profile data from the complete cooking process - specifically the temperature at various time points during the reference cook. Rather than storing all possible cooking parameters and raw sensor data, the system extracts and stores only the critical temperature history needed to replicate the cooking conditions, reducing data storage requirements while maintaining replication accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters by storing temperature data at strategically selected time points rather than continuous raw data. The patent specifies storing temperature at intervals (e.g., every 10 seconds) and using these discrete temporal samples to reconstruct and match the reference profile, transforming continuous temperature data into a manageable set of discrete parameters that are sufficient for accurate replication.
3Manufacturing precision
If the oven dynamically adjusts cooking settings in real-time, then the cooking quality improves by replicating perfect cook conditions, but the control system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies dynamics by making the cooking process adaptive rather than static. Instead of following a fixed pre-programmed cooking cycle, the system dynamically adjusts heating power in real-time based on the difference between actual and reference temperature profiles. This dynamic control allows the system to respond to variations in food items, oven conditions, and environmental factors while maintaining consistent cooking results.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses partial action by adjusting only the heating element based on temperature profile comparison, rather than controlling all oven systems simultaneously. The control is focused specifically on matching the temperature history, applying corrections only where needed in the temperature profile, rather than excessively controlling every aspect of the cooking process, thereby simplifying the control system while achieving the desired precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for cooking food items in an oven is disclosed. A history of instant oven temperatures is initially obtained during a cook of a first food item. A salient representation of the oven temperature history is stored in a non-volatile memory. The salient representation includes multiple average oven temperatures, each selected to represent a summary of the instant oven temperatures at various specific time periods throughout the cook of the first food item. During a cook of a second food item that is substantially similar to the first cook item, the current cook settings are dynamically adjusted during the cook of the second food item based on the results of a comparison between the instant oven temperatures and the stored average oven temperatures in order to duplicate the result of the cook of the first item.